Railway car



D. A, CRAWFORD Er AL 2,212,897

Aug. 27, 1940.

RAILWAY CAR Filed July 8, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nw/mg Q@ @u NN WN G NN S, NQ nm .Q Q Q QN Aug. 27, 1940. D. A. CRAWFORD ET Al. 2,212,897

RAILWAY CAR Filed July 8, 1958 .4 Sheets-Sheet 2 All@ 27, 1940- D. A. CRAWFORD ET AL 2,212,897

RA ILWAY CAR Filed July 8, 1938 4 Sheets-.Sheet 3 Aug. 27, 1940. D. A. CRAWFORD Er AL RAILWAY CAR Filed July 8, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Aug. 27, 1940 RAILWAY OAR David A. Crawford, Golf, Alexander E. McKinnon, Homewood, and Oarl 1I. Apel, Chicago.

lll., :miglior-s to The Pullman Company,

Chicago, lll., a corporation of Illinois Application July 8, 1938, Serial No. 218,098

8 Claims. .(Cl. 98-5) The invention relates to railway ysleeping cars and has particular referenceto a car involving the use of metal partitions designed to convert the customary open berth sections upon opposite sides of a central aisle into private upper y and lower compartments, with separate entrances to each, as covered in our copending application Serial No. 96,480, led August 17, 1936, now Patent No. 2,134,032, of October 25, 1938.

The principal object of this invention is the utilization of air conditioning equipment for Ventilating the individual compartment spaces by enclosed branch ducts having separately controlled outlets from an overhead general air duct, the circulation of air in the compartments being facilitated by the use of louvered panels in the aisle partitions providing communication with the air outside the compartments for the purpose of recirculation.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are realized by the arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a general plan view of a sleeping car equipped in accordance with the invention, showing a series of section compartments arranged upon opposite .sides of a central aisle, and air conditioning apparatus upon opposite sides of the aisle at the end of the car;

Fig. 2 is a general perspective View from the aisle of the car looking into compartment made up for day use and showing the central overhead general air duct and the branch duct upper and lower outlets in a wall of the compartment;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through an upper and a lower compartment made up for night use and illustrating a branch duct having outlets for the upper and lower compartments, respectively; and

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are detail sectional views of the branch ducts and controllable outlets taken on the lines A-I, 5 5 and 6 6 of Fig. 3, illustrating the dampers for regulating the air emission from the respective outlets.

For details of the compartment and berth constructions and arrangements, reference is made to the copending application hereinabove referred to, and the present description will be confined to the Ventilating arrangement.

In the drawings, I represents a sleeping car having berth sections Il arranged upon opposite sides of a central longitudinal aisle i2 defined by a pair of partitions I6 extending from a bulkhead i at the vestibule I6 adjacent one end of the car to the bulkhead I1 separating the berth section area from the compartment and bedroom spaces Il and Il rearwardly thereof. Forwardly of bulkheadl II the vestibule Ii provides an entrance to the .car through door 2| and retractlble steps 22, access to the central aisle I2 being had through door 2l of the bulkhead. From the ves- 6 tibule-a central passageway 2l leads to the womens toilets and '28 on opposite sides of the car and to entrance 21 at the iront end of the cargiving access to other cars of the train. From the vestibule I9 access is had to linen lockl0 ers and II and switchboard lockers 32.

Entrance to space rearwardly of bulkhead Il is had through door leading to side aisle or passageway I8 at the side of the car giving access to compartment I8 and bedroom I9 through 15 doors 3l and 38, respectively, and to a second vestibule through doorway 4I giving access to another entrance' 42 and steps 43 on the opposite side of the car. From vestibule 40 access is had to mens toilets I6, and 48 and, through a 20 second central passageway il, to compartments 49 and 50 housing the air conditioning appara. tus and to rear door 5I. The vestibule 40 accommodates a porters seat 52 and gives access to lockers 98 containing electric control equip- 25 ment for the air conditioning system.

Although eight berth compartment sections are indicated in the present embodiment, any number of such sections may be provided, and the position of the sections with respect to other fa- 30 cilities of the car may be adapted to any operating condition.

The berth sections ii are fitted with the customary pair of confronting seats 60 arranged for adjustment by the occupant to a lounging po- 35 sition and convertible to provide a lower berth by shifting the seat cushions 6I towards each other with their respective supporting bars 62 slidably mounted upon brackets 93 and 663 secured, respectively, to the car side and seat ends 85. The 40 seat back cushions 68, pivotally connected to the seats, likewise assume horizontal positions in the space between the shifted seat cushions Si and section partition I3 in a manner usual to such arrangements to form with the seat cushions a. 45 support for the bedding l.

The upper bunks 80 are pivotally secured to the partitions I3 above the seats 60 at the car sides, as in general practice, and adapted, when lowered, to provide upper berths. In their loW- ered position, the bunks 80 are chain-supported at their free edges from the usual berth sheaves 82 mounted on brackets fixed to the car roof framing. When the upper bunks 8G are in raised position, the space between the free edge thereof and the ceiling 1! is closed by an apron 84 pivoted at 85, and, when the bunks are lowered, the aprons 84 are raised and held by latches 86 in the partitions I3 until released by the attendant upon raising o1' the bunks.

'I'he aisle partitions |4 are spaced from the seat ends 65 and the free edges of upper bunks to provide upper and lower compartments oi' greater width than possible with,constructions wherein the seat ends constitute portions also of the partitions and, incidentally, to provide, with respect to the bunks, suillcient clearance for movement thereof through the arc indicated at 89.

The aisle partitions are made up of panels with louvers |41 shaped and disposed to prevent a view of the compartment interior from the aisle but allowing the circulation of an adequate volume of air therethrough. In actual practice the louvers are preferably of modiiied Z-section mounted with their inner and outer flange portions lying in parallel, vertical planes and connected by a web portion disposed at an obtuse angle with respect to such anges--said flanges being formed with inwardly directed wing portions but spaced `from contiguous wings and iianges of adjacent louvers to deilne airpassages substantially offset to obstruct the view.

The air conditioning equipment of the car is utilized for Ventilating the compartments. This is accomplished by introducing conditioned air from a main duct 220 at the ceiling of the car outside of the compartments downwardly through branch ducts 22| in partitions i3 communicating with registers 222 and 224 opening into the upper and lower compartments, respectively, and under control of the occupants. The air from the main duct is conveyed, under pressure, through lateral connecting ducts 223 at the several sections and expelled from compartments through the louvered partitions to the aisle, the air thus expelled being reclrculated with fresh air conditioned by suitable apparatus, not shown, in compartments 49 and 50 upon opposite sides of the passageway 4`| at one end oi the car shown in Fig. 1.

The branch ducts 22| and the upper and lower outlets are best illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, and it will be seen that the respective outlets 222 and 224 are individually regulated by adjustable dampers 23| and 232 manually controlled by means of hand knobs 233 and 234. The respective outlets 222 and 224 are provided with vertically disposed louvers 235 arranged at an angle such as to direct the air issuing therefrom into the respective upper and lower compartments in a general longitudinal direction towards the side walls. It will be noted, from an inspection of Fig. 5, that the upper compartment outlet 222 is mounted in an offset portion 236 of the duct 22| in order that when the damper 23| is open a portion of the air coming from the main duct 220 through the lateral duct 223 is permitted free passage past the open damper to the lower compartment outlet 224, whereby conditioned airis equally available, in easily controlled quantities, to either compartment at any time regardless of the respective damper settings.

The damper control knobs 223 and 224 operate the respective dampers 23| and 232 by means of fast-acting screw-threaded connections. 'I'hese connections each comprise a threaded shank 231 flxedly secured to the control knob and threading into a collar 23B which is provided with a slot 239 in interlocked engagement with a pin unmounted across the recess 24| in the damper accommodating the slotted collar 238. The slot 239 permits ready assembly of the parts and permits operation of the damper about an arc as the control parts move in a straight in-andoutl motion. Torsional spring 242, mounted about the axis of the damper, urges the damper towards closed position.

The air issuing into the berths from the outlets 222 and 224, after circulation therein, is exhausted through the louvered aisle partitions and recirculated, as stated, with fresh air conditicned by the apparatus in compartments 49 and 50.

What is claimed is:

l. In a car having a central aisle, berth sections upon opposite sides of said aisle, partitions disposed transversely of the car separating said sections and extending from respectively opposite side walls of the car to the aisle, a conditioned air supply duct above said aisle, branch ducts in said partitions from the supply duct communicating with the respective sections by means of controllable outlets disposed adjacent to said aisle, and means in said outlets for directing the air issuing therefrom in a generally longitudinal direction away from said aisle.

2. In a car having a central aisle, berth sections upon opposite sides of the aisle, partitions disposed transversely of the car separating said sections and extending from respectively opposite side walls of the car to the aisle, a conditioned air supply duct above said aisle, branch ducts in said partitions from the supply duct communicating with the respective sections by means of controllable outlets disposed adjacent to said aisle, means in said outlets for directing the air issuing therefrom in a generally longitudinal direction away from said aisle, and means for withdrawing air from said berth sections for recirculation.

3. In a car having a central aisle, berth sections upon opposite sides of said aisle, partitions disposed transversely of the car separating said sections and extending from respectively opposite side walls of the car to the aisle, a condiioned air supply duct above said aisle, branch ducts in said partitions from the supply duct communicating with the respective sections by means of controllable outlets disposed adjacent to said aisle, and means in said outlets for directing the air issuing therefrom in a generally longitudinal direction away from said respective Partitions.

DAVID A. CRAWFORD. ALEXANDER E. McKINNON. CARL H. APEL. 

